In Friday’s Denver Post, Tony Kushner discusses his play, “Homebody/Kabul,” which opens in its regional premiere Saturday at Denver’s Curious Theatre. It was a wide-ranging interview that inevitably touched on far more topics than could make that story. Such as the prescient nature of the play, and his opinions on everything from the seeds of 9/11 to Sarah Palin (he calls her “the true daughter of Ronald Reagan — she just doesn’t have as good of handlers as he had”).

Here are additional excerpts from the interview, which Kushner graciously conducted from Louisiana “on three days of no sleep,” following word that his father has taken ill.Read more…

At a panel including playwrights Tony Kushner and David Henry Hwang, Suzan-Lori Parks acknowledged this is “The Age of Obama” … “But I think we’re still allowed to be angry.” Photos by Tom Kimmell.

Playwrights Tony Kushner (Angels in America”), Suzan-Lori Parks (“Top Dog/Underdog”) and David Henry Hwang (“M. Butterfly”) joined together on Wednesday, Feb. 3, for a wide-ranging public panel discussion at Colorado College titled, “Art, Culture, Politics.” The moderator was Laurence Maslon. Here are excerpts from their talk:

David Henry Hwang: One of the things I had to learn early was how to filter criticism. I was fortunate enough to have my first play accepted by the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference the year after my senior year in college. And just a few weeks later, Joe Papp, the founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, became interested in my play. Joe took me into his office and said, “Well, you know, I like this play.” And he gave me a few notes … but I didn’t actually agree with them.

Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks and David Henry Hwang are coming to Colorado Springs – together – for a free lecture on Feb. 3. (Photos by Roy Zipstein, Stephanie Diani and Craig Schwartz).

Master playwrights Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”), Suzan-Lori Parks (“Top Dog/Underdog”) and David Henry Hwang (“M. Butterfly”) are all coming to Colorado Springs – together – for a free lecture to discuss the intersections of art, culture and politics, on Feb. 3.

In advance of the event, we scored an exclusive interview with Kushner — and we asked him thoughtful questions submitted by Denver Post readers. You can read the story in the coming Sunday Arts and Entertainment section to be published Jan. 31. The conversation ranged from an assessment of Barack Obama’s first year in office to Cindy McCain’s new stance on gay marriage to Eugene O’Neill to Abraham Lincoln, and much more.